I feel game controllers don't last very long these days.

[Fuzzball]

So I've noticed my XBox One controller I use for some Steam games has developed a little bit of drift in its left control stick. Sitting in game main menus, the game just decides to scroll up or down through the options without me pressing anything. I've had it for just under three years, although I first noticed the issue last autumn, and just haven't happened to use it since then.

A few months ago, my Switch Pro Controller that I had had for exactly one year also developed a drift in its left control stick. I couldn't fix this issue, so bought another. With my current XBox controller, I've tried suggested tips of pressing in rubbing alcohol with a q-tip (I have methylated spirits in the UK) but that hasn't seemed to have helped.

It feels like these controllers are developing problems awfully quickly. Yes, I use them for hundreds of hours of gameplay, but they don't seem to last as long as controllers did back in the day. Maybe my perception of things was different when I was young, but my Gamecube controllers never developed "drift" over years of use. They instead just got physically worn out, with the sticks seeming to be a bit physically loose.

Hell, I'm pretty sure my XBox 360 controller that I used for years before getting a new laptop and controller never had any issues.

So does anyone else feel this way? What's going on with controllers nowadays meaning they don't last so long? Is it because the control sticks take more physical strain, being clicked downwards and all that?

It really bothers me having a piece of equipment that doesn't work quite right, so I'll have to buy another XBox controller. I just needed a place to vent.

[Glass Mother]

Got my XBOX360 PC controller wireless. Since 2011. Works like a charm.

[Manic Jorge]

Yeah ive had the eame 360 controllers since um.. 2009?

[Fuzzball]

Originally posted by Hannah Montana:

Have you tried recalibrating it in Windows?

Yeah, I opened up the the controller properties tool in Control Panel. You can see a little cross in the centre of an empty square, which moves when you move the left control stick. It wiggles about and drifts by itself. This was similar to my Switch Pro Controller on the Nintendo console.

Recalibrating in both those cases never helped, and sometimes made the stick act even more crazy. 'Cause calibrating it compared it to a neutral that was wiggling around.

[Longhaul]

I still have all the original controllers from all my past systems and they all work great. There was one 360 controller I bought from the trash Future Shop that didn't work out of the box but that's it.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

the 360 controller uses better parts, my xb1 wanders too

[Xautos]

probably a hair has gotten into the controller and it's reporting a false positive reading as it's running across one of the mechanisms inside. cheap mice usually fall prey to this type of thing if you don't clean you mouse mat and mouse every so often, it gets trapped with hairs and dead skin, sometimes it gets caught in the mouse wheel mechanism or the optical port on the bottom of the mouse. eventually they develop phantom double clicking and cursor drifting..

might be best to clean out your controller and see if that helps.

[secuda]

Had two 360 controllers wich have same issue as op. Have to unplugg it few seconds and it works for a while. Thinking of diy cleaning its inside might work (any sugestion?)?

Have a xone controller wich losing connection with its power cord.

[Kargor]

I don't have experience with XBox1 yet, but I got my XBox360 in 2013 (I think), and it's still fine.

[BanOphobia My Struggle]

The sticks are always the first thing to go on Xbox controllers anything from as little as 6 months.

The PS3 controllers never had any issues other than the built in battery going dead. The PS1/2 controller last for years and years.

Got a PS4 controller and to early to tell if it is durable enough or not only had it for over a year.

[Glass Mother]

I still got my Gravis Gamepad. But my PC is missing the right parts so I cannot connect it anymore.

[gugnihr]

When I was a kid I was usede to joysticks for Amiga and mouses with a ball inside. Maybe controllers today don't last as long as they should, but I am not able to complain about anything that lasts longer than one week
What an awful childhood I had :(

[Sir Dookface McFerretballs]

The new Xbox one controllers are made a lot more cheaply than the Xbox 360 controllers.

They snap together with plastic tabs instead of being held together by screws, so they can creak, crack, and break easier, and are not as easy to take apart and clean like the old 360 controllers are.

With the old 360 controllers their biggest problem was after months or years of use people's "skin flakes" and dirty hand "gunk" would start to gum up the actuators/pickups area under the joysticks and start to cause drift or such, but it can easily be fixed by taking the controller apart and cleaning with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol until the springs finally tire out.

Most things nowadays are made with "planned obsolescence" in mind... Basically meaning that they are "designed to fail" at a certain point to try and force you to buy another one, and often designed in a way that if you try to repair them yourself, it will likely break the item.

[Glass Mother]

Question: how's the Steam Gamepad? Any good?

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

lots of people say its weird then thwy like it

[gugnihr]

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:

Most things nowadays are made with "planned obsolescence" in mind... Basically meaning that they are "designed to fail" at a certain point to try and force you to buy another one, and often designed in a way that if you try to repair them yourself, it will likely break the item.

It was already like this way before the first Xbox existed. But when something is not succesful enough they are forced to do their best to lure more people and improve their business.
But since XBox controllers are 100% compatible with PC too they can afford to make them cheap. It is just too convenient for people to buy their controllers anyway and overall they are much better than anything else I have tried on PC.

The XBox 360 controller had a much worse D-Pad and it was less good for 2D and expecially retrogames not meant to be played with a stick.